Scientists from Ohio State University, have created a new tissue culture model that recreates the development of granuloma – protective immune cells that gather around a cluster of TB bacteria – by adding TB bacterial cells to human white blood cell samples. The model demonstrates both how people are protected from disease during latent TB […]
Clue to TB origins found in Hungarian crypt
Hundreds of mummified bodies, found in a church crypt in Hungary, are helping epidemiologists explain how TB spread in the past. Samples from the mummies have revealed that multiple tuberculosis strains derived from a single Roman ancestor that circulated in 18th-century Europe. The individuals, many of them wealthy Catholics, had been placed fully clothed in coffins […]
Live stream of the 1st Eastern Partnership Ministerial TB Conference
The 1st Eastern Partnership Ministerial Conference on Tuberculosis and Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis will be available to stream live on 30–31 March 2015 from the TB Europe Coalition website. The multi-stakeholder high-level conference is hosted under the Latvian presidency of the Council of the European Union, in cooperation with WHO Europe, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and […]
How nurses can support early diagnosis of TB
An article in the Nursing Times explains how all nurses are essential to TB control and elimination. Though TB patients are cared for by specialist nurses, all front line nurses may encounter TB – especially those who work with high-risk populations, such as migrants, substance users, homeless people and patients who are HIV positive. These nurses are […]
Health minister calls on local authority leaders to tackle TB and Hep C
Local authority leaders, in areas with high rates of TB or Hepatitis C infection, were called together by the Minister for Public Health, Jane Ellison, to examine actions and interventions to address the two diseases. The minister outlined the similarities between the two diseases; including their links to health inequalities and challenges relating to ensuring […]
Uncertain future for European TB funding
A new report by the TB Europe Coalition, “After Aid: What is next for TB and HIV in Europe”, examines the potential consequences for TB in Europe as key international donors withdraw support for European TB programmes, to refocus efforts on lower-income countries with a higher disease burden. “I am very worried. I had to […]
Trillion Euro bill for multi drug-resistant TB
Startling new data has predicted that by 2050, 75 million people could lose their lives to multi drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) at a cost of €15.6 trillion to the global economy—the equivalent of the entire annual economic output of the European Union. These projections were originally produced for the independent Review on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) and […]
The Sir John Crofton Prize for TB Nursing winners announced
Congratulations to the winners of the inaugural Sir John Crofton Prize for TB Nursing. The quality of the entries reflects the passion and commitment that we know to be at the heart of all TB nursing – qualities that should be celebrated. This is why TB Alert and the TB Action Group established the award, with […]
USAID and Janssen provide free drugs for MDR-TB
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Janssen Therapeutics, have agreed to provide a newly developed tuberculosis drug for free to patients suffering from strains of TB that are resistant to two or more antibiotics. Janssen will donate $30 million worth (30,000 treatment courses) of the drug SIRTURO® (bedaquiline) over a 4 year […]
Drug resistance to cost $100tn by 2050, study finds
Over the next 15 years, drug resistant infections – including tuberculosis – will cause 10m deaths a year worldwide and will cost at least $100 trillion – unless global action is taken. These are the findings of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, which was set up by David Cameron, the UK’s prime minister. The report, […]